Elite force is ticket-blitzed
Cops ‘pressured to meet quota’
Members of the elite Strategic Response Group — about 700 highly trained, heavily armed cops who respond to terrorism, mass protests and gun violence — say bosses are demanding they write more “BS” tickets.
The pressure to meet secret “quotas” — a practice the NYPD denies — diminishes public safety, whistleblowers told The Post.
“We feel that we’re not as sharp on our tactics, because they are pulling us away from tactical training to grab numbers,” one said. “It should be of great public concern, because we are the quick-reaction force that’s going to neutralize and mitigate the threat from an active shooter. We can’t do that if [police] guns are off the street due to arrest processing.”
SRG officers who don’t meet ticket “quotas” — which bosses demand at roll call but don’t put in writing — are given undesirable shifts and denied overtime, several have complained to the Internal Affairs Bureau.
“The old-school mentality of crushing cops who ‘don’t do enough’ is alive and well,” said one who filed a complaint.
Police disputed the accusations. “Quotas are strictly prohibited in the NYPD. The department does not and will not use quotas for enforcement activity in the Strategic Response Group or any other unit or assignment,” Sgt. Jessica McRorie said.
NYPD spokesman Peter Donald added, “SRG deploys to neighborhoods where crime still persists. The unit is expected to make those communities safer.’’
General training for SRG members has increased from four to six days a year. But officers said additional refresher training has been slashed.
“If officers aren’t confident in their training, they’ll be ineffective when the time comes for them to perform,” one said.
Each borough has an SRG squad, but the officers respond to shootings, major crimes and hot spots citywide.
Members raced to the West Side Highway last Oct. 31 when an Uzbekistan immigrant rammed a rental truck onto a bike path, killing eight; to Bronx-Lebanon Hospital on July 2, 2017, when a disgruntled doctor shot seven people, killing a fellow physician before himself; and to Chelsea on Sept. 17, 2016, when a pressure-cooker bomb planted by an Afghanistan immigrant who supported ISIS exploded on West 23rd Street, injuring dozens.
Counterterrorism assignments, large demonstrations, major crimes and missing-children searches take up to 90 percent of their work, SRG members say. That leaves scant time to write revenue-generating summonses for traffic infractions, public urination, open containers of alcohol and other violations.
Under SRG Inspector John D’Adamo, the unit’s top cop, “the only thing that matters is [arrest and summons] activity,” an SRG officer claimed.
Roy Richter, president of the NYPD Captains Endowment Association, insisted, “It is not a numbers-driven command.”